Canberra was (kind of still is) a city defined by government departments and public servants. It’s quickly changing and there’s a growing community that’s focused on developing great ideas into reality. Innovation is the future of the new Canberra and I’m stoked to be part of this exciting new chapter of my home city.

I’ve recently gotten involved with the events hosted by the Canberra Innovation Network. I’ve had the chance to start many exciting conversations with people passionate about developing their ideas to create a better city through technology and community. This is one of the reasons why I decided to come back to Canberra in 2016 to focus on helping build passionate communities through technology.

Since coming back to Canberra, I’ve realised the effort that it takes to integrate into a new city (or back into one). I’ve just spent 5 years working in Agriculture and now, I’m connecting with people to chat about the development of community through the implementation of new and upcoming technology.

Here are some highlights of the conversations I’ve had this month:

Stir Microgrants

A few weeks ago, I attended an innovation networking event and I met a few interesting people. I was told about a microgrant that was available in Canberra called Stir. If you’re a creator and have an idea you want to pursue, I highly recommend that you take a look at what Stir is about. They provide guidance to help you transition your idea into a real project on paper then provide a simple platform to help you pitch your idea to the community for funding.

With funding available up to twice a year, it’s worth checking it out. You can find my project, World Photo Day on Stir.

While I’m on the topic of Stir, support some of the passionate people I’ve chatted to during my conversations. Just follow the links and hit support project if you like what they’re doing.

• VacantSpace by Coco Ho - Coco is passionate about revitalising Canberra city by making vacant commercial spaces available for short-term use by communities and creatives.
• Mythic by Joshua Ophel – Josh is a young gun that’s using his passion for creative art to produce personalised tokens, playmats and deck boxes for players of Magic the gathering and other games.

Sell your own property with Suburban Property Consulting

This week, I invited one of my neighbours, Lyndon over for a few beers, we chatted about his real estate business and his passion for Canberra. I talked about World Photo Day. Our beers turned into dinner upstairs at his place and we continued chatting about pursuing our big ideas.

Lyndon is an experienced real estate agent and just started Suburban Property Consulting. If you’re looking to sell your own property with professional marketing and support, get in touch with Lyndon. If you’re looking for a hands-off approach, he can also sell your property for you.

Running with parkrun Burley Griffin

Last weekend, I joined the volunteer team at parkrun Burley Griffin to help capture their first ever park run and with 435 runners, they set a new record for parkrun in Canberra. What a privilege it was to be part of that first run. I’ll be down there most Saturdays either volunteering or running so be sure to come down to see what park run is about and say hello!

Parkrun is a free timed 5km run hosted every Saturday at 8am at defined locations around Canberra. Check out the website to learn more about parkrun.

If you’re interested in maintaining your fitness over winter, take on the challenge of Canberra’s invigorating climate and join park run. With the addition of Burley Griffin, there’s now four parkruns in Canberra. Tuggeranong parkrun, Ginninderra parkrun, Gungahlin parkrun and Burley Griffin parkrun.